President Obama is scheduled to sign the JOBS Act today, Thursday, April 5, which aims to fuel innovation and enterprises for the 21st century economy. This bill is an important national step forward for issues that Reset San Francisco has championed, including crowdfunding and investing in the innovative community. It allows startups to crowdfund up to $2 million annually from “non-accredited investors,” or more members of the at-large community.

Crowdfunding is the collective pool of investments or donations (usually online) to fund a wide-range of endeavors – from disaster relief, to startup companies and short films. Many sites had built fan-bases of individuals and businesses, from New York to San Francisco, long before the JOBS Act came into play. Crowdfunding websites, such as Kickstarter, LuckyAnt and IndieGoGo, have set the standard of how any one person or any business can access the capital needed to turn ideas into an economic reality. Whether it’s investing in a local documentary or supporting the families of San Francisco’s fallen firefighters, the JOBS Act provides us all with a greater opportunity to be self-made entrepreneurs.

The JOBS Act includes six bills that will help companies start up and grow faster and easier. Highlights of the JOBS Act include boosting access to capital for high-growth companies by allowing businesses to crowdfund up to $2 million in a 12-month period and reducing the cost to go public.

Crowdfunding Shifts Buying Power To Boost the Local Community

With Obama signing the bill and removing certain SEC restrictions, power to support projects and invest is shifted over to the community. For those of us living in the Bay Area, we will now have the power to invest in our friends, neighbors and local community groups.

Reset is excited to build a stronger community by rebuilding a strong economy – and to help create jobs in an innovative way. Stay tuned for more as we follow this story.

Do you have a project on Kickstarter or another crowdfunding site? Let us know and ask us to feature you on dev.resetsanfrancisco.org. You can also read more about the JOBS Act on Business Insider here.